Eliminate the fat of your waist

Mark Casselman. MS, CSCS, profesor of exercise physiology, nutrition and high performance training of the Humber College of Toronto, prepared a three month periodization training program to increase intensity and to workout abs with a different routine. It prescribes three different fazes intended to muscle your waist.

'People think of sculpting their abs, and make lots of sets and repetitions, which leads to a low intensity workout', explains Casselman. 'You can train with high intensity or big volume, but never with both things at the same time. Our idea is to workout the waist with the same intensity and volume that other muscles, but with more frequency. When you do high repetitions you workout the slow contraction fibres, which have less development. Fast contraction fibres are worked out with more weight and intensity. 

People afraid of getting a big waist do high repetitions to prevent their abs to grow. They want toned and defined waists, with classic look. But don't be afraid: abdominals do not get much developed even using big weights and low repetitions. Moreover, to get the look you want, you need to boost your waist muscles.

Our three months program has been designed to increase intensity and to modify every-month stress on your abs. This is the plan: 

Month 1: Focus in resistance, but working with moderate repetitions and intensity and a short resting period. Exercises are most of them traditional, except for Russian turn.

Month 2: The emphasis on strength and development will increase intensity and resting periods. The chosen exercises work your middle section in conjunction with stabilizing muscles. Casselman says: 'It is important that athletes do any kind of abdominal work with feet on the ground in order to apply results in a more practical way'. Abdominal training provides strength in the middle section, which increases the weight used.

Month 3: The final faze is focused on strength and power using moderate-to-heavy intensity and repetitions. Speed has an important role. The first three exercises are plyometric and must be done in explosive way to activate fast contraction fibres.

From now on, the days of endless and useless abs repetitions are over. Crush your abs intensively and adding variations using our periodization program. You will not only put an end to your boring abs training, but also you will get a strong defined middle section. 

EXTENDED ARMS KNEES RAISE

MOTION: Hanging from a chining-up bar, bend your knees 90 degrees and contract abs to raise hips towards the chest. The movement should be fluent and controlled without bounces and impulses. 

CABLE SHRUG

MOTION: Grab a cable attached to a high pulley. Kneel in front of the machine and hold the cable slightly above your head. Contract abs to pull your shoulders towards your hips. Hold one moment the max contraction. 

RUSSIAN TURN

MOTION: Lay on your back on the ground with arms extended above head, holding a fixed object. Keeping shoulders on the ground, but slightly lifting the hips, extend legs up and slowly lower them to the right side. Reverse the movement to move them to the left side 

BACK EXTENSION LYING

MOTION: This exercise is known as “Superman”. Lying face down on the ground, hold your ankles and extend arms front. Raise shoulders and chest from the floor as high as possible. Hold on a moment. The path is short but intense and difficult. 

SHRUGS ON EXERCISE BALL

MOTION: Studies have shown this exercise stimulates more muscle than other abs exercises. Lying face up on an exercise ball, feet on the ground, look at the ceiling and focus on that point to keep neck and spine still. The closest your feet are, the less stable this position will be and, therefore, the exercise will be more difficult. 

BACK EXTENSION ON ROMAN CHAIR

MOTION: Place on a Roman chair facing down, holding your feet. Bend from the hips until your trunk is at 90 degrees from your inferior part, and then go back to the starting point (body extended). Hold a medicinal ball or light weight to add resistance. 

INVERTED SHRUGS ON EXERCISE BALL

MOTION: Instability is the exercise ball's advantage, which forces your hip's muscles to work harder to keep balance. Lying face up on a ball, extend arms and grab a fixed object. Raise knees and flex hips towards shoulders, lifting them from the ball in the final position. Do repetitions slowly. 

WOODCHOPPER WITH PULLEY

MOTION: This exercise works out obliques as other muscles. It's very effective in boosting the hit for Golf, Baseball and Tennis. Stand next to a high pulley which has to be in front of your right shoulder. Grab a D handle with both hands. Diagonally pull along your body to the left hip, spinning at the waist. In the next set reverse the motion to workout the opposite side. 

EXTENDED ARMS LEG RAISE WITH MEDICINAL BALL KICK

MOTION: Hanging from a chinning bar, your feet almost touching the ground, and ask a partner to put a medicinal ball close to your feet. Kick it as you lift legs. You don't have a partner? Add resistance by holding a light dumbbell or a medicinal ball with your feet. Each set must be done explosively. 

SHRUGHS ON EXERCISE BALL WITH MEDICINAL BALL THROWING

MOTION: Do a shrug on an exercise ball and throw a partner a medicinal ball at the end of each repetition. Hold contraction as your partner gives you the ball back. Use your abs to resist the load when you go back to the starting point. If you don't have a partner, do the shrugs feet together or placing the body farther back on the ball. Repetitions must be done explosively. 

INVERTED WOODCHOPPER WITH MEDICINAL BALL

MOTION: It's the same as in woodchopper with pulley, but faster. Hold a medicinal ball or light dumbbell with both hands and use your hip's strength to quickly reverse direction in high and low position. Despite you move fast, you should avoid inertia and excessively bending your spine. 

GOOD MORNING WITH BAR

MOTION: It's an intense exercise for the lower back. Place a light bar behind nape as for squats, bend from the hips and move gluteus backwards. Lower the trunk until it is parallel to the floor, and then go back to upright position. Keep a fixed controlled rhythm. 

ABSOLUT TRUTHS ABOUT ABS 

ARE YOU TRULY WILLING TO IMPROVE YOUR MIDDLE SECTION? THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW 

>> You should try to increase resistance in each one of your trainings. The slightest change can produce major results.

>> The farer you place a weight from the body, the bigger the resistance will be. If you hold a medicinal ball at chest's height while doing shrugs, try putting it away in the next training to add intensity to your waist.

>> Each training of this program presents two exercises for abs, one for obliques and other for the spinal erectors of the lower back

>> Lower back exercise is included to even up the strength in that area with the abs's strength. But if you usually do deadlifts or similar exercises, you can cut down the lower back training in one of the three weekly trainings.

>> “Abs are small and resistant to workout, so they can be overcharged more than other muscular groups”, Mark Casselman says. We suggest to workout waist three times a week in alternated days. If you feel twinges in your abs two days after, quit that training or reduce intensity.

>> Workout your abs at the beginning of your crushes, but with this exception: the days you do squats and deadlifts, workout the waist at last so you don't tired the key stabilizing muscles beforehand.

>> To save time, the exercises in this program can be done as a giant set: one after the other without resting between sets.

>> Don't forget the importance of nutrition. You need to eat properly to get the results from your work.